RFID
Introduction Radio Frequency Identification, also known as RFID, is a new developing technology that has made life more convenient and work more productive. Over the years, this technology has been adopted by many different companies and organizations in terms of preventing theft and making check-outs, whether at the airport or a local store, faster and easier. Since the past 50 years, scientists, inventors and engineers combined their knowledge and research findings to further develop this technology into something that could benefit the public in great sense. Although, this emerging technology comes with lots of benefits, it also emerges with many privacy and security concerns. What is RFID? “RFID is a wireless communication technology that lets computers read the identity of inexpensive electronic tags from a distance without requiring a battery in the tags” (Nath, 2006). How did this technology emerge? The 1950s was an era of technological improvements and developments and it was during this time that the component of the RFID tags were made and later in 1960s, they became a reality. Back then, these developed tags were large and were used in commercial activities to prevent theft, but it wasn’t as developed as it is now because they could only locate where an item is. These technological tags, overtime, shrank in size, and improved and the key development that led to a smaller size was the use of low-voltage and low power circuits (Landt, 2005). What are the potential benefits of this technology? * “RFID uses radio frequency waves to transfer data between a reader and a movable item to identify, categorize, track” (Lyer, 2005) * “Is fast and does not require physical sight or contact between reader/scanner and the tagged item” (Lyer, 2005). * “Performs the operation using low cost components” (Lyer, 2005). * “Attempts to provide unique identification and backend integration that allows for wide range of applications” (Lyer, 2005). Types of RFID tags There are many types of RFID tags, but the most common ones used are called Active and passive tags. Active tags require a source of power to function and their lifetime is limited because the power supply can only last for a limited time and it’ll eventually run out of energy. On the contrary, passive tags doesn’t require a source of energy and they have no limited time. They are small and fit in small compartments. A tag reader provides the energy for the passive tags and the tags use radio frequency as a power source for operational needs (Want, 2006). ''Privacy Concern''s Although RFID tags has been beneficial and convenient, privacy advocates have questioned its use. They are concerned that although some business uses this technology for inventory purposes, because it makes their job easier, tags might not be taken off when a customer purchase the item. This action could lead to personal information concerned with that customer into other people’s hands because radio-based technology communicates through an invisible communication channel. To solve this problem, EPC global has developed a “kill switch” that lets the vendors turn the tags off at the time of the purchase but concerns still exists because not every vendor would be too concerned to turn the tags off for the customers (Langheinrich, 2007). Conclusion In conclusion, although this technology isn’t as popular as barcodes, which are printed on the tags with no cost, it is still an investment because it has been proven to prevent theft and help businesses be on top of loss prevention. This technology will hopefully be acquired by many industries and someday hopefully replace bar-codes. References B. Nath, F. Reynolds and R. Want, “RFID Technology and Applications,” in IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 22-24, Jan.-March 2006. doi: 10.1109/MPRV.2006.13 Iyer, S. (2005). RFID: technology and applications. IIT Bombay, Presentation. R. Want, “An Introduction to RFID Technology” in IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol. 5, no. 01, pp. 25-33, 2006. doi: 10.1109/MPRV.2006.2 J. Landt, “The history of RFID,” in IEEE Potentials, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 8-11, Oct.-Nov. 2005. doi: 10.1109/MP.2005.1549751 Langheinrich M. (2007) RFID and Privacy. In: Petković M., Jonker W. (eds) Security, Privacy, and Trust in Modern Data Management. Data-Centric Systems and Applications. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg